InHealth Community Diagnostic Centre - Hornchurch

On this page

• Overview
• Kindness, compassion and dignity
• Treating people as individuals
• Independence, choice and control
• Responding to people’s immediate needs
• Workforce wellbeing and enablement

We looked for evidence that people using the service were always treated with respect, kindness and compassion. We checked that patients’ privacy and dignity were respected and that person-centred care was central to the service, with staff demonstrating cultural competence. Patients reported their overall experience was good.

At our last assessment, we rated this key question as good. At this assessment, the rating has remained good. This meant that people felt supported, cared for and treated with dignity and respect.

We have not awarded this service a score for Caring.

Find out about when we will not publish a key question score and what we look at when we assess Caring.

The service always treated people with kindness, empathy and compassion and respected their privacy and dignity. Staff treated colleagues from other organisations with kindness and respect.

Patients said staff treated them with kindness and respected their privacy and dignity. People described staff as kind, welcoming and supportive. They said staff were “very caring”, “brilliant” and “friendly”. Patients also commented positively on their interactions with clinical assistants and described them as kind and welcoming, helping them to feel comfortable when they arrived for their appointment.

People told us staff communicated with them in a calm and respectful way and responded appropriately to any worries or questions. People said staff took time to explain what would happen during their scan and answered questions clearly. One person commented the member of staff on reception “made me feel very much at home” and made sure they understood the procedure, while another said staff made them feel very welcome. This showed that staff understood how people’s experience of care mattered and that they took steps to reduce anxiety and help people feel reassured.

Patient feedback to the service supported this. People frequently described staff as friendly, calming, helpful, professional and reassuring. Several comments praised the way staff supported them before or during the MRI scan. Patient feedback was shared with staff at team meetings and this reflected positive experiences of kindness and respectful care.

The service treated people as individuals and made sure people’s care, support and treatment met people’s needs and preferences.

Staff treated people as individuals and made sure care, support and treatment met people’s needs and preferences. The service had systems to identify people’s needs before they attended, including alerts where people required additional support or communication help. Patient individual needs were considered at referral, and arrangements such as interpreters and translation services were available for people who did not speak English as their first language. The service was also accessible to wheelchair users and had a hearing loop to support people with hearing impairments.

People’s feedback showed staff adapted care in practical ways. People told us staff took their age and mobility into account. People also said they had enough time to ask questions, and that staff made the process easy to understand. This showed staff were responsive to people’s circumstances and took account of their needs and preferences during appointments.

Patient feedback gave further examples of individualised care. Patients described staff supporting them with their mobility to get into position for scans. Staff knew how to make reasonable adjustments but told us that that the service was unable to extend appointment times or facilitate pre-appointment visits for patients who may require additional support due to anxiety, claustrophobia or other individual needs. Following the inspection the provider advised that appointment bookings were managed centrally, and reasonable adjustments could be made where a need was identified.

The service promoted people’s independence, so people knew their rights and had choice and control over their own care, treatment and wellbeing.

Patients told us staff explained procedures clearly and gave them time to ask questions. People said they knew who to contact if they were worried after their appointment and understood the next steps in their care or treatment. Most people also said they would feel comfortable raising concerns or complaints if they needed to.

People understood the purpose of their appointments, knew what was happening next, and were given opportunities to ask questions and make decisions. The service supported informed choice by providing information before appointments and by discussing scan procedures with people when they arrived. People received clear information about costs and how to make payment via the provider’s website. People told us they received information by email before attending and that staff talked through the process with them. Some people said they were offered appointments that worked for them and found booking straightforward. The service had arrangements to support informed consent.

The service listened to and understood people’s needs, views and wishes. Staff responded to people’s needs in the moment and acted to minimise any discomfort, concern or distress.

Staff made efforts to respond to people’s needs in the moment and acted to minimise any discomfort, concern or distress. Staff recognised that anxiety and claustrophobia were common for people attending for MRI scans and aimed to reassure people during their scans. Staff carried out regular observations during scans and had systems in place so they could communicate with people throughout the procedure. The service also had practical resources to make people more comfortable, including eye masks, earplugs, headphones, and mirrored glass to minimise distress.

People’s feedback showed this approach was reflected in practice. Several people said staff answered their questions, provided reassurance and made them feel comfortable. Patient feedback described staff as calming, reassuring and helpful, especially when people felt nervous about their scans.

There were some occasions when delays affected people’s experience. There were also occasions when appointments were cancelled due to equipment failure, however staff explained that cancelled patients were prioritised for rebooking.

The service cared about and promoted the wellbeing of their staff and supported and enabled staff to always deliver person-centred care.

The provider cared about and promoted the wellbeing of staff and supported and enabled them to always deliver person-centred care. Staff said there was a positive culture within the service and that the team worked well together, and that they received good support from managers. The personal and professional development of staff was encouraged, and most staff who responded to the provider staff survey agreed they had opportunities to grow in the last year. Staff received annual appraisals and mid-year check ins, they were also able to develop their skills, including specialist development opportunities such as through undertaking further study, the organisation's leadership development programme, aspiring leaders' course, mentorship and regular continuing professional development activities available to staff.

Staff survey information was combined with another of the providers sites. The provider had put action plans in place following the survey. These included regular 1-to-1 meetings, appraisals, mid-year reviews, weekly management catchups and quarterly team meetings. The survey action plan also showed leaders discussed wellbeing, freedom to speak up, equality, diversity and inclusion, and staff benefits with teams, and shared escalation routes for staff who needed additional support. The staff sickness rate was 3%, which indicated relatively low levels of absence across the workforce.

Staff wellbeing was included in the staff induction. We were told that staff wellbeing was always considered during regular 1-to-1 meetings. The provider offered a range of health and wellbeing benefits, such as a private healthcare scheme, support paying for professional registration costs and an employee assistance programme offering counselling and mental health support.